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Covenant eyes its own EMS; City leaders delay vote to seek options

Covenant Health has interest in providing Emergency Management Services, a service that since 1984 has been exclusively done by University Medical Center, or the Lubbock County Hospital District.

Lubbock's City Council on Thursday evening ultimately gave itself more time to consider and hear from those involved in a long-term EMS agreement, a move Covenant leaders applauded.

The contract between the city and UMC has in the past been renewed annually, but an agreement from UMC was brought to the council during Thursday’s meeting to lock into a five-year deal. Although Covenant is not yet ready to provide EMS, nor has such a service been approved by their board, its representatives attended the council meeting to urge the council against entering into that long of an agreement.

What the council ultimately did was postpone the decision. A new, one-year contract will automatically renew in April if no action is taken.

But council members said they’re ready to address the issue Mayor Glen Robertson said was a long time coming — deciding if Lubbock is big enough for a dual-hospital ambulance service, or if another hospital, third-party or even public entity (fire rescue) would be better suited for the duty.

So the council voted to hold a special meeting on Tuesday with a single resolution to create a sub-committee made up of representatives from both hospitals, the city, county and fire department, to study the issue.

Representatives from UMC and Covenant agreed to the subcommittee proposal, although both hospitals appeared to disagree about what was best for the city.

“Based on council’s decision tonight, Covenant Health looks forward to the opportunity to educate our community on the tremendous benefits of a dual-hospital ambulance service which includes a Covenant ambulance service option,” said Richard Parks, president and CEO of Covenant Health.

The council also voted to authorize the notice of its issuing bonds. Councilman Victor Hernandez made a motion to exclude the debt-issuance for Citizens Tower, which is currently set for about $52.8 million of the $123 million total. Hernandez in the same amendment placed an item on the already called special meeting Tuesday to consider putting the debt-issuance to a public vote in a bond election.

The motion failed 3-4 with Robertson and Councilwoman Latrelle Joy also voting in favor of it.

Those who voted against it argued that about $10 million had already been put for the renovation, and a new facility for the police department (planned for the current City Hall) needs to happen soon.

Dual hospitals

The five-year deal was brought to the council for several reasons, one being for stability given UMC’s investments, said Eric Finley, UMC spokesman. He said a new EMS station opened last year at 74th Street and Milwaukee Avenue, and a new one is being constructed near 114th Street and Quaker Avenue.

Those projects, plus the new trucks, personnel to recruit and equipment replacements as they continue to grow, are long-term investments.

He also said a longer agreement helps determine how best to plan and fund those projects and gives the city more time to determine what is best for the community.

Parks, with Covenant, addressed the council with his organization’s opinion, which was that another service will provide more units on the road and decrease response time. He also argued this will improve “hospital choice” and will provide less expensive care.

“The taxpayers of Lubbock deserve an EMS and ambulance service that is efficient, cost effective, and delivers the best care possible to our community,” Covenant Health wrote in a news release shortly after the meeting.

David Allison, UMC’s president and CEO, said UMC surveys suggest differently. He said UMC already has a 94 percent satisfaction rating, which is one of the highest in the state, and it already carries about as many patients to Covenant as UMC, about 55 percent to 45 percent in favor of UMC.

Hospital choice was also something Allison said Covenant addresses in surveys that get high satisfaction.

Allison and other representatives at UMC said its average response time of about six minutes is already respectable and it continues trying to find innovative ways to lower it.

Both hospital CEOs were cordial during the entire discussions.

Allison conceded to the council that if a dual-hospital service is being contemplated, then UMC would start looking into whether or not it would want to continue with the service. He reported that just the emergency management service, not including the cost of treatment, costs about $4.5 million annually.

Parks said he’d be in favor of having Covenant exclusively provide the service.

Potential EMS service would still need to be approved by Covenant's board of directors before moving forward.

The council did not set a date of when it would like to hear the opinions of the sub-committee, but said it would like to make a final decision before the municipal election in May.